Advertisement
Published: February 19th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Potosi Central Market
Mmm that´s good cow head We took the DIRECT bus from Uyuni to Potosi, which meant only about 12 stops to pick up extra passengers plus 1 flat tyre. We stopped for lunch at 1 interesting village which for me was a quintessential Bolivian village- adobe houses, heavy indiginous population clad in traditional garb, folkloric music wafting out the windows, a creek winding through mist encrusted mountains, a young fellow tending to his herd of llama, and the finishing touch, a half dozen bowler hatted local ladies squatting by the side of the road carrying out their ablutions- nice way to spoil the ambience gals.
Arrived in Potosi, a mining town at 4000 metres (can't wait to get back to sea level) which was once fabulously rich but these days not so overtly affluent. The mining influence is obvious on the outskirts and it is quite the tourist attraction for gringoes to delve deep into the bowels of a genuine zinc/ tin mine to experience the work conditions of Bolivian miners. We gave it a miss but from the sounds of other peoples reports, OH & S staff would have coronaries at the conditions the miners have to endure.
The part of town where we stayed
Potosi
One of many churches is a UNESCO world heritage site and is a shining beacon of Spanish colonial architecture, including the obligatory paved streets and pristine plazas. The faces and modes of dress have also changed - bowler hats usurped by panama/akubra styles and there is a higher proportion of western style clothing. Lots of young people out socialising.
The central market was the usual buzz of activity. Penny was particularly impressed with the guys pushing around wheel barrows full of skinned cow´s heads and entrails. She´d turn 1 corner to escape 1 and run into another. The vegetarian had died and gone to hell. As for myself, dinner that night was my 1st real food for 48 hours after the previous tummy problems. When I looked at the menu, the llama schnitzel just jumped right out at me (that´s a problem in Oz, even at the DJ´s fine food section, you just can´t find decent llama schnitzel). It´s not too shabby, veal like and plugs you up like the Dutch kid with his finger in the dyke - life is good.
Gary
The town at 4000m is coming to life in preparation for Carnival that starts in a day or 2, hence
Potosi
The Pathway to the Mines women who once sold nuts / juice etc on the corners have replaced their produce for buckets of balloons filled with water and every shop door has water pistols / cannons and snow foam for sale. At the miners market the mayor showered Gary and myself with confetti and streamers which was way better than being hit with water bombs. I´m not game to go back into the meat market to see what might get thrown in there!
We say goodbye to Potosi and it´s colonial architecture and encroaching / mined mountains to head for Sucre just in time for Carnival.
Penny
More images at:
www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com
Advertisement
Tot: 0.296s; Tpl: 0.008s; cc: 35; qc: 133; dbt: 0.1449s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb